


hot temper with the shortest fuse (you're such a mess with an attitude)

by rutabega129



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Diners, F/F, Fluff, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:54:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25141240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rutabega129/pseuds/rutabega129
Summary: Chloe likes Beca. Beca doesn't really like anyone.
Relationships: Chloe Beale & Beca Mitchell, Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell
Comments: 34
Kudos: 199





	hot temper with the shortest fuse (you're such a mess with an attitude)

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to challenge the "Chloe is always the exception to Beca" trope and going a different route where Chloe ISN'T the exception. Also to explore Beca being canonically very callous when she wants to be. So this monstrosity was born and I decided to set it also as a Diner!AU. 
> 
> IDK I hope you guys still like it even though it's a little over the place.
> 
> Title from "I Want You" by Kelly Clarkson
> 
> Unbeta'd. All mistakes are mine

“Beca, order up!” The bell dings shortly after and Beca smiles tiredly at Jesse as she grabs three plates off the serving counter. She expertly balances two plates on her one hand and arm and holds the third on the other. The plates are hot but after working in the diner for years, her pain tolerance for hot kitchenware has increased. That or she has permanent nerve damage.

She’s in hour 8 of her 12 hour double shift and she was getting tired. She hasn’t worked a double in a really long time but one of the servers called in sick and they were extremely short staffed. If it was any other job, Beca would’ve said no but she’s good friends with the manager, Cynthia Rose so she didn’t mind. Plus extra money always helped. The diner was just a means to get through daily living while she interned at a record label trying to break into the music producing world. It’s been a hard and tedious road but Beca was determined. If that meant she had to work long and grueling hours with customers that were straight out of hell, then it was a price she was willing to pay.

“Okay we got chicken fingers and fries,” Beca says, setting a plate down in front of a young boy who quickly stuffs a piece of chicken in his mouth. Beca tries her best not to look disgusted. “Grilled cheese and fries,” Beca continues and sets the plate down in front of a young girl who smiles toothly at her. “And a reuben, light sauerkraut, and dressing on the side.” She sets the final plate down in front of a woman who smiles gratefully at her. They were regulars and the mom usually brings her kids in a couple of nights a week. Beca doesn’t talk to her much but she knows she works in the medical field judging by the scrubs she’s usually in. They’re great tippers even if Beca can’t really deal with kids and their rowdiness. 

“Is there anything else I can get you?”

“Ketchup!” The boy screams automatically. His mother chastises him right away.

“Adam, what did we talk about?” She looks at him sternly and he looks somewhat contrite. Beca smirks.

“May I please have some ketchup?” He tries again and sounds actually genuine.

“Sure,” Beca says, smiling and quickly grabs him a bottle of ketchup.

Beca’s glad that this mom actually disciplined her kids opposed to the other 10 families who came in throughout the day with children. They had no care in the world as their brats yelled their little heads off. She had dealt with her array of different patrons that made Beca almost want to stick her head in the deep fryer. 

The entrance bell dings and she looks up to see one of their regulars walk in and she has to stop herself from grimacing when the girl eagerly waves at her. Beca smiles at her half genuine and half forced because she was so tired and watches as she takes her usual booth by the corner window.

Chloe has been frequenting the diner for the past 6 months and while very nice, Beca was always a little apprehensive whenever she came in. She always ended up acting more awkward than she already was whenever Chloe was around. For some reason, she had taken a liking to Beca and Beca wasn’t quite sure why. Ever since Chloe saw that she had a tattoo of a grasshopper on her arm and she promptly showed Beca her own ladybug tattoo on her wrist. 

“Hey! I have a bug tattoo too!” She had exclaimed that day. Beca tried to smile but it may have turned out to be a wince. 

Chloe was always complimenting her in some way or other whether it be the way she styled her hair that day or the earrings she had worn. She had once caught Beca singing to herself (“Titanium” by David Guetta) and just went off about how great a singer she was and how much she loved the song. Also something about it being her lady jam but Beca tried to forget that little fun fact. It was flattering of course but Chloe was sometimes a little too overwhelming for Beca.

But she wasn’t blind. Chloe was absolutely gorgeous and Beca would be lying if Chloe’s compliments didn’t make her feel some sort of way. But it was just a bit _too_ much for Beca. Chloe was obviously outgoing and had no boundaries while Beca liked to keep to herself and stay at home on the weekends. She did enjoy the occasional outing with close friends but to a low key dive bar or even bowling at the local alley.

Not to mention Chloe really liked to talk to Beca while she was working. It’d be endearing if she wasn’t so busy all the time but there were only so many stories of rescuing dogs and cats she could take on long hour shifts. Although Beca did enjoy when someone talked so passionately about the things they loved. Chloe worked at some kind of animal shelter that was close to the diner which is why she was in there most days. 

Beca knew more about Chloe than she knew about her own parents. She knew Chloe’s best friend’s name and the fact the only fish she can eat is salmon. How she was on the swim team in high school and that her parents were both pediatricians but she wanted to be a vet instead. How she wanted both a dog and a cat but her apartment didn’t allow pets so working at a shelter was the best thing. Beca managed to tell her she wanted to be a music producer but quickly shut down any request Chloe had of listening to some of her music. Just because Chloe had no problem sharing with Beca didn’t mean Beca was willing to share with her. Even though Chloe seemed _very_ interested in Beca.

“I think your girlfriend’s waiting for you,” Cynthia Rose teased as she brought food over to a table. Even as a manager, Cynthia Rose still waited on tables.

Beca rolls her eyes and takes her pad out of her apron. “Shut up, she’s not my girlfriend. I barely know her.” Except she did on some level. 

“She sure as well wants to get to know you.” She waggles her eyebrows and winks. 

Beca ignores her and makes her way to Chloe. She was looking at the menu which Beca didn’t quite get since she orders the same thing every time she’s in there. “What can I get for you today?”

Chloe looks up from her menu and gives her a wide smile. “You look nice today,” she says and Beca tries her hardest not to react. She was sweating and her hair was falling out its ponytail. She has no idea how the hell she’d look nice. “Is that a new shirt?” 

Beca looks down at the shirt she was wearing. They were allowed to wear anything comfortable in the diner as long as they wore their names tags. Beca usually puts on old shirts so it wouldn’t matter to her if she got food stains on it. Which is what her shirt was covered in now.

“Uh no?” She says dumbly. It was an old faded tshirt with the The Lost Boys movie poster on it. Probably one of the only films she genuinely enjoyed when she was younger. 

“It still looks nice on you,” Chloe says again and eyes her up and down. Beca sweats a little more. “I’ll have the chicken gyro with a side of sweet potato fries.”

Beca had already written it down. “Coming right up.” She gives Chloe a little smile before heading back to put the order in.

“Oh Beca, wait,” Chloe calls for her and Beca turns around and nearly falls over. Chloe had grabbed her hips and turned her slightly. “Your apron is coming undone.” Chloe undoes the tie on her apron and reties it in a tighter bow. 

Beca finds herself swallowing as she watches Chloe tighten her apron, very aware of how close she is to her body. “Uh thanks.”

“Anytime.” Chloe’s eyes seem to almost sparkle when she looks at Beca.

“Would you just put the girl out of her misery and go out with her already?” Cynthia Rose says when Beca goes into the kitchen for a quick break. She was way too hot now.

“I’m not going to go out with an actual Disney character,” Beca says, somewhat annoyed and downs a water bottle. “We literally have nothing in common.”

“How do you even know that? You barely talk to her. Just drool sometimes though.” Beca throws a dirty rag at her. “Seriously, Beca, she clearly likes you, what’s the worst that could happen if you go on a date? You’d get that stick out of your ass?”

Beca gasps in offense. “I do not have a stick up my ass thank you very much.” She finishes her water. “Chloe’s way too bubbly for me. She surrounded by puppies and kittens every day for fuck’s sake.” She hears Jesse call her name to tell her Chloe’s order is ready and she sighs and goes back out to the diner. Beca knows Cynthia Rose is just teasing her but it got really annoying sometimes when she and the rest of her coworkers would tease her about Chloe. Everyone thought she needed to get laid. Which Beca did agree on some level. Between the stress of her internship and the long hours at the diner and the fact she barely makes rent every month, Beca did need to find a way to relax. 

She highly doubts dating someone like Chloe would get her to relax. It seems like the girl ran on 100 percent power when Beca always needed to be charging. 

“One chicken gyro with a side of sweet potato fries.” She sets the plate down in front of Chloe. “And extra tzatziki sauce.”

“Thanks, Beca, I forgot to ask for this when I ordered.” She looks extremely grateful which Beca found also strange. It was just sauce.

Beca just shrugs. “You always want extra so I just brought some out.”

Chloe smiles again. “Much appreciated.”

Beca just nods and then attends to the rest of her tables. It gets pretty busy and Beca barely has time to breathe but she still manages to make sure all her tables got proper attention and never waited too long. When she finally gets back to Chloe’s table, she had stacked her plates for easy removal and it’s Beca’s turn to be grateful. She loved when customers do that.

“Can I get you anything else?”

Chloe looks up from her phone. “Yeah, what kind of pie do you have today?”

Beca has to do a mental check of what pies they baked that day. “We got apple, peach cobbler, and cherry.”

Chloe makes a show of thinking and Beca can’t help but find it somewhat adorable. If not a little obnoxious. Chloe tends to be very dramatic. “I’d really love some of _your_ cherry pie.”

The way she says it makes Beca almost choke on her own spit and she sure she turns bright red. “Um, okay, coming right up.” She fans herself with her pad and she swears she hears Chloe giggle. She grabs a plate and goes to where the pies are on display and cuts a slice of cherry for Chloe. She quickly returns and without looking at her, places the plate on the table before tending to other customers.

“Does this come with whipped cream?” Beca hears Chloe call after her.

“Is she fucking serious?” Beca says under her breath before turning around to signal that she’ll be back in a minute. She tries her hardest not to look at Chloe as she presses down on the nozzle of the can of whipped cream over Chloe’s pie. “Is that good?” Beca asks when there’s a good dollop on it.

“Oh yeah, that’s definitely enough cream.” Chloe reaches with her finger to get a good amount of cream on it before bringing it to her mouth and licking it off. Her eyes never leave Beca’s.

Beca clenches her jaw. “Enjoy your dessert.”

Thankfully, Chloe finishes her pie pretty quickly and pays her bill at the register. She leaves Beca an almost 50% tip in cash on the table. 

“Damn, seems like she wants to cream your cherry pie,” Cynthia Rose says when they close for the day.

“Shut up, oh my god.” Beca tosses her apron aside and gathers her things. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

Beca was ready to pass out when pulls up to her apartment building later that night but she still had some mixes to work on before she heads back to the label tomorrow morning. There was a past due notice on her rent taped to her door and she’s tempted to write “fuck you” on it and slip it under her landlord’s door. He was a piece of work.

She quickly changes into her pajamas and goes to her mixing equipment and begins working. Beca was bone tired and smelled like burger grease but she needed to finish this tonight. Her eyes were swimming and she started to see dots a half hour into work so she goes to lie down for a few minutes just to rest.

Unfortunately, Beca falls completely asleep and sleeps through both her alarms and has a panic attack when she sees the time. She had to be at the label in 30 minutes when it took 15 minutes to get there. She stares at her unfinished file on her computer and quickly saves it to a thumb drive before putting on any clothes she can find. Unfortunately it happened to be the shirt and jeans she was wearing all day at the diner and Beca feels completely gross, having absolutely no time to shower. She gargles with mouthwash because she has no time to even brush her teeth and grabs her things and rushes out of her apartment. 

Of course she hits morning rush hour and she sits in her car nervously tapping on the steering wheel. “Come on, come on,” she says to herself. She’s sure she breaks about 5 traffic laws before she gets to work and makes it just in time without being late. She gets a few looks from the other interns at her haphazard appearance. Beca only managed to brush her hair when she was in the car and put it up in a bun. She hasn’t washed it in a few days so it was definitely looking and feeling very gross. The food stains on her shirt didn’t help any either and Beca was pretty sure they could smell the burger grease coming from her.

It was a very shitty start to her day.

It just got worse from there. Beca’s unfinished track of course received many criticisms from her boss and Beca felt like a failure by the end of the day only to be reminded she had to do another shift at the diner. Cynthia Rose thankfully bites her tongue when she sees the look on Beca’s face when she walks in. 

Beca tries her damndest to remain professional and fake smiles as she serves customers but has the sudden urge to stab the man who told her to smile. By the time Chloe comes in, Beca really wasn’t in the mood for her weird innuendos and not so thinly veiled flirtation.

“Chicken gyro and sweet potato fries?” Beca says immediately when she approaches her table. Her voice is clipped and she hopes Chloe can sense her frustration. She really wasn’t in the mood. 

“Yes, please,” Chloe says, chipper as ever. It grates on Beca’s nerves. “Didn’t you wear that yesterday?” Chloe asks, tilting her head at Beca’s outfit. 

“Aren’t you an observant one?” Beca snipes back and Chloe for once, looks a little shocked. “I’ll be right back with your food.”

Beca doesn’t bother with small talk when she places Chloe’s food on the table and goes to leave when Chloe reaches out to grab her wrist. It takes a second for Beca to register what happened before annoyance seeps in.

“Is there something else you need?” Beca almost growls and pulls her wrist away.

“Are you okay?” Chloe asks, with such genuine concern but for some reason, it frustrates Beca more.

“I’m fine.” It was obviously a lie. Anyone across the street can tell Beca was having a bad day.

“If there’s anything you want to talk about,” Chloe begins with a little smile.

“No, there isn’t,” Beca hisses. “We are not friends, stop acting like we are.”

Chloe widens her eyes at Beca’s tone. “I’m sorry, I just thought you could use someone to talk to.”

Beca wanted to scream. “Listen, Chloe, stop acting like you know me, you don’t. Frankly I’m tired of you coming in here and acting like we have some weird relationship going on because we don’t. I’m tired of your weird innuendos and your weird way of talking to me and you always invading my personal space. I’m just tired of it. So no, I don’t need someone to talk to and if I did, I wouldn’t be talking to you.” Beca stops short when she sees the hurt flash in Chloe’s eyes. She did not mean to say any of that out loud but it was too late now. The cat was completely out of the bag.

Chloe visibly swallows and Beca can see tears welling up in her eyes. “I apologize,” Chloe says, in a shaky voice and then reaches in her purse to pull out a few bills. She sets it down on the table before getting up and exiting the diner. 

Beca feels like absolute shit. 

\---

Chloe doesn’t come into the diner for about a week and Beca absolutely doesn’t blame her. She knows she was being a dick. Chloe didn’t deserve anything Beca said to her in her moment of anger but the problem was, she had no idea how to reach her to apologize. Beca missed her even though she had no right to. 

“You know what really sucks? That chick was actually the perfect girl for you,” Cynthia Rose points out. Beca has been staring at Chloe's empty booth for the fifth day straight. She actually put a reserved sign on it just in case Chloe comes back.

“Thanks,” Beca deadpans. “That makes me feel so much better.”

“I’m not here to make you feel better,” Cynthia Rose says truthfully. “I’m here to tell you you were an ass and that you need to apologize and stop feeling sorry for yourself.”

“I don’t know where she is,” Beca says in frustration. “I don’t even know her last name, she always paid in cash. Can’t even stalk her on social media.”

“All those times she talked to you, she never told you where she worked or her last name?” 

Beca tries to think. Chloe did talk a lot but she doesn’t recall Chloe ever mentioning those details. “Well, she said the animal shelter was close to here.”

Cynthia Rose rolls her eyes and grabs Beca’s phone from the counter. “Google, you moron.” She slaps the phone into her hand. “How many animal shelters are in this area?”

Beca unlocks her phone and quickly searches. There was one that popped up just a few blocks from the diner called All the Pawsibilities and she involuntarily smiles at the name. It seems like a place Chloe would definitely work in. “Okay taking an extended lunch break,” Beca says and hits the gps on the address.

“Yeah sure, not like we’re short staffed!” 

“Call Amy!” Beca yells back and she gets ready to leave. “When’s the last time she’s worked a full shift?”

“I’m gonna fire that girl’s ass, I swear to god.” 

The shelter wasn’t hard to find and Beca would’ve walked there if she knew exactly how close it was. She parks her car and makes her way to the entrance. Beca is literally greeted by a dog.

She widens her eyes in amusement when a large breed dog trots over and stops a few feet from her and sits down. Beca looks to see if there was anyone else around. The lobby was empty and no one was at the front desk.

“Uhh,” Beca says out loud, feeling completely foolish that she was legitimately contemplating asking the dog where everyone was. The dog barks and Beca jumps. 

“Geoffrey!” A girl says, suddenly appearing from behind the front desk. The dog lets out a little whine before trotting back to the back room. The girl pets him as he goes. “I’m sorry,” the girl says to Beca. “He thinks he’s a butler and needs to greet everyone at the door.

Beca can’t help but laugh at that. The name was very fitting. 

“Is there something I can help you with?”

“Oh right, um, does Chloe work here? Red hair? Big bright blue eyes?”

“Yeah, she’s in grooming right now, do you have an adoption meeting with her?” She looks a little frazzled as she clicks on the computer in front of her. “I didn’t see anything on her calendar.”

“Oh no, I don’t have a meeting or anything, I just wanted to.” Beca stops, unsure of what to say. “If she’s not busy, can I talk to her for a second?”

“Yeah, I’ll go check. I’m Jessica by the way. Can I tell her who’s waiting for her?”

Beca contemplates giving her name but Chloe may not want to see her if she knew it was her. She opens her mouth to speak but freezes when she sees Chloe come out from the back. Her shirt is riddled with water stains and she has her hair tied up in a yellow bandana.

“Jessica, we need more clean towels, can you go to storage and get some?” Chloe doesn’t seem to notice Beca was there.

“Sure, and you’ve got a visitor.” She tilts her head towards Beca before disappearing off to what Beca assumes is storage.

Chloe turns her head and widens her eyes when she sees Beca standing in the middle of the lobby.

“Uh, hi,” Beca says lamely and waves awkwardly.

“What are you doing here?” She crosses her arms across her chest and raises her eyebrow. Chloe was definitely angry.

Beca bites her lip and scratches at the back of her neck. She should’ve rehearsed something before coming because she was at a loss for words. “I wanted to apologize for snapping at you last week. I had a really shitty day and I took it out on you. I’m sorry. That was completely uncalled for.” There, straight and forward.

“Okay,” is all Chloe says before turning around and goes back to the back room. 

“Wait,” Beca says, suddenly annoyed. “That’s it? ‘Okay’?”

Chloe turns back around and glares at her. “What else is there to say? You’re right, Beca, we’re not friends.”

Beca tries very hard to remain calm and getting into it with Chloe at an animal shelter was the last thing she wanted to do. “You know you’re not exactly innocent in all this.”

  
Chloe looks at her incredulously steps back into the lobby. Beca never realized what presence Chloe commands until that very moment. “Excuse me? I didn’t snap at you for no reason. In fact, I’ve always been nice and cordial to you.”

“No reason? Chloe, you really suck at social cues otherwise you would've realized you being ‘nice’ to me made me uncomfortable.” It was the first time Beca actually said it out loud and she can tell by the look on Chloe’s shocked and very contrite face that her words affected her.

“I’m,” Chloe starts to say and looks down ashamed. “I’m sorry, Beca, I never meant to make you feel uncomfortable, I just thought.” She takes a deep breath and looks back up. “I just thought you liked me too, but you are right, I suck at social cues, I thought, you know, you were flirting with me too.” She gives Beca a sad smile. “I’m sorry I made you feel that way, that was never my intention. And you had every right to say those things.”

Beca swallows. “I’m not used to getting that much attention, it was a little overwhelming.” 

Chloe nods. “I’m getting that now. I’m sorry that I overstepped my bounds so many times.”

“Okay,” Beca says, echoing Chloe’s word but in a softer, more understanding way. “And I’m sorry for saying all those things.” They stand there for a few moments, in an awkward silence. Beca can hear dogs barking in the back.

“I have to get back to work,” Chloe finally says.

Beca glances at her watch. Her long lunch break was getting way too long. “Same here, um, I’ll see you tomorrow? Chicken gyro and sweet potato fries?”

Chloe smiles. “Okay.”

\---

“Did you two kiss and make up?” Cynthia Rose asks her when she sees Chloe walk in mid afternoon and goes to her regular booth.

Beca can’t help but smile when Chloe waves to her. “Sure,” she says airly and makes her way to Chloe with a glass of water and sets it down on the table. “We don’t put anything special in the gyro, why do you like them so much?” 

Chloe laughs. “I’m not one for change. Usually when I like something, I stick to it for a really long time.” 

Beca knows it’s a double entendre and she feels butterflies in her stomach. “I’ll be right back with your order.”

\---

Beca is not quite sure when she and Chloe actually start becoming friends but it’s a nice transition when Beca realizes it’s easier not being in a bad mood all the time. Chloe was in fact an actual ray of sunshine but Beca didn’t find it as irritating anymore now she took the time to actually get to know Chloe. It completely balanced out her more broody personality. 

Chloe still looked at her with that sparkle in her eye and Beca finds herself falling. 

“Did your boss like your new track?” Chloe and her share a basket of sweet potato fries on Beca’s lunch break. She finally convinced Chloe to order something different but she won’t let go of her sweet potato fries.

“He actually liked it. He said he liked the way I isolated the vocals on the bridge.” She blushes when Chloe smiles at her.

“That’s awesome, Bec!”

“Yeah, still got a long way to go though.” 

“Don’t sell yourself short, you’re extremely talented.” 

Beca feels warm all over. She counts to ten in her head before taking a deep breath. “Are you working this Friday?”

Chloe raises her eyebrow and sits up straighter. “No, completely free, why?”

Beca makes a show of slowly chewing her fry and takes a sip of water. “I was wondering if you wanted to go bowling this Friday.”

Chloe leans back in her seat with a huge smile. “Just you and me?”

“Uh yeah?” Beca says awkwardly. “Like you know, we can also grab some dinner.” Beca winces at her awkwardness.This sounded so much better in her head.

“Beca, are you asking me out on a date?” The sparkle in Chloe’s eyes seem more prominent as she looks at Beca.

Beca blushes. “Trying and failing it seems.”

“Not failing because I’d love to.” 

Beca beams. “Yeah?”

Chloe just nods. “Pick me up at 7?”

“Okay.” Beca grins as she gets up and leans over to give Chloe a quick kiss on the cheek. Chloe seems completely surprised but smiles. “I gotta get back to work. Lunch is on me.” Beca is still glowing when she goes back into the kitchen to wait for her next order and Cynthia Rose rolls her eyes.

“Alright, you bitches,” she says to the wait staff. “Y’all owe me 10 bucks.” There was a bunch of groans as all the servers hand her 10 dollars.

Beca squints her eyes. “Did y’all bet on me or something?”

“Yeah, I said that you’d ask her out before the end of the week. Everyone thought it’d take another month. Thanks for the win, babe!” She pats her cheek before going back out to the diner.

Beca just shakes her head at her antics as she hears the familiar ding of an order being ready. She takes it to the designated table and sees that Chloe has already left. When Beca goes to clear her table, she smiles so widely her face hurts when she sees a little heart drawing on the paper placemat. Beca takes her phone out and quickly takes a picture of it and sends it to Chloe.

 **Beca:** **  
** _youre super corny you know that right?_

 **Chloe:** **  
** **😘**

Beca doesn’t stop smiling for the rest of the day. 


End file.
